


Recursive

by Merfilly



Series: Walking along the Moebius [5]
Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-25
Updated: 2011-10-25
Packaged: 2017-10-24 22:54:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The game begins again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recursive

Hoggle heard the voice behind him, and hurriedly made himself presentable. Seriously, the nerve of some folks interrupting a good flow like that! When he turned, he took in the girl with disdain.

"Oh, it's you."

Even as he said it, Hoggle wondered why the human was familiar to him in ways that made his cowardly heart beat harder. Sarah was jut one more victim of the Labyrinth, nothing special, he kept telling himself, even as Jareth goaded him at every step of the journey to make it harder on her than other would-be challengers.

She was just a girl, his mind insisted, but his heart knew better.

`~`~`~`~`

What was a King without a Queen? Jareth mused on this thought as he drifted through the Ball, hidden behind his Horned One masque. He moved, lithe and swift to intercept her, looking down upon her after unmasking.

Why did her eyes beckon him deeper within her soul?

What was it about Sarah that made him feel as if his trap had turned on him, catching them both in snares they could not escape?

And why, when she ran from him upon seeing the clock, did he feel as if he had once run from her?

`~`~`~`~`

 _"You have no power over me…."_

Those with interest in gaining the Labyrinth for themselves smiled, setting their champions once more into the maze while Jareth contended with the lessening of his power. How many times would it take, with the mortal offending the young fae, and the fae-lord then losing to her, before Jareth's grip on the Labyrinth slipped enough to let him lose his power entirely?

`~`~`~`~`

Ludo finished walling in the strange champions, trapping them where the cleaners would dispose of them in time. He looked at Hoggle, who dusted his hands off as if he had done the work himself.

"Sarah?"

The giant rock-master's query jogged more memory into place.

"Over and over," Hoggle grumbled, frowning, before he patted at his treasure pouch and the irreplaceable ring she had given to him. He looked up at Ludo, and then grinned. "I'm going to see the Junk Lady. I think she can help us!"

Ludo did not protest, and set off with the dwarf for the minor witch's abode.

Neither saw the Firey watching from atop the maze's wall.

`~`~`~`~`

The Junk Lady had not been the most cooperative in what Hoggle wanted, but he'd bartered for the items he needed. The magic in them would last just long enough, he hoped, for this to work.

"Now, to Didymus. He's the only one small enough to do what we need," Hoggle said.

"Need?" Ludo questioned.

"I know I have lured Sarah around the labyrinth before. Not how many times, but something… every time, I know I know her already!" Hoggle said. "So, we're going to make sure Sarah remembers this trip through, and see what that does, the next time it all starts over!" Hoggle told his friend. "Why, if I were a braver dwarf, I'd try to grab one of Jareth's own crystals, to remind her, but…that's too much bravery just for a silly little ouroboros!"

`~`~`~`~`

There was a boy, and there was a woman. Again, a game of names played out, and again, the appearance of a tall, gangly man with flaming red hair set in motion a crisis of ego versus the woman's memory of that arrogance, leading to the boy leaving.

The geas continued to wreak its havoc, while one brave Knight tried to deliver the memoriam his Fair Maiden needed to win against the Fates cast for her.

`~`~`~`~`

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies now to the readers. This piece may not seem to read very clear, but due to the timey-wimey nature of the fic, it's hard for me to convey it any other way. Unless you want me to write about five reiterations of both ends of the loop with subtle changes each time...


End file.
